BBQ Rib Rubs

Barbecue Ribs when properly prepared and slow cooked are absolutely heavenly. Now ribs have numerous nuances and we can start by the choices you have to make so let’s start with the easy ones – pork or beef? Pork is a bit more popular as beef ribs, when not prepared correctly, can be very unforgiving and tough. Should you season with BBQ sauce or a dry rib rub? Competitive BBQ teams almost exclusively use dry rub to season.

Now if you choose to go the route of pork then there are two standard cuts you should look for – the Baby Back (or Loin Back ribs) and Spare ribs.  Baby Backs are considered leaner, very tender and have a milder flavor while Spare Ribs which have a more robust flavor. Spare ribs when prepared right can be just as tender as Baby Backs. While Baby Backs have been made famous by some casual restaurants many rib fans prefer Spare ribs in side by side taste tests.

And if you want to cook like a pro see these: 12 Secrets of Cooking Smoked BBQ Ribs and How to Grill Ribs.  

Now that you’ve made the easy choices now come the hard choices about dry rib rubs – we’ve found that there are 3 questions you need to ask yourself when deciding which rib rub to go with:

1.    Do you want sweet?
2.    Do you want spicy?
3.    Is there an overriding style you prefer to stick with or do you want to experiment with something new?

Some of the most popular styles of ribs are Memphis Style (this one is more spicy than sweet), Kansas City Style (more sweet than spicy) and one of our best selling rib rubs Pork Stank (which is sweet and spicy).